Cerebus #277

Cerebus: Latter Days reaches its twelfth chapter with issue #277, and the cover — pencilled and inked by Dave Sim and Ken Sim — delivers a quietly melancholy image: an aged, hooded Cerebus leaning on a crutch in front of a real photographed cottage garden, a white owl perched on a post nearby, while the tagline "With This Cast & This Bag & This Crutch" sets a wryly resigned tone. The mix of hand-drawn cartoon figure against photographic background gives the whole thing an oddly poignant, contemplative atmosphere that feels a world away from the barbarian adventurer Cerebus once was. With Dave Sim and Gerhard handling interior art and lettering, this 2002 Aardvark-Vanaheim issue continues one of the most ambitious long-form experiments in the history of self-published comics.